Gas-producer.



A. JABS.

GAS PRODUCER.

APPLIUATION FILED JULY 16, 1908.

, Patented Dec. 28 1909;.

un'irni) STAiLEiS ra rnnr @Fi ttihl ASMUS JABS, F ZURICH, SWITZERLAND.

GAS-PRODUCER.

. in or Relating to Gas-l roducers,.of which the following is aspecification.

The distillation'of caking coals in gas producers offers great practical diliiculties which it has not been hltherto possible to overcome in a simple manner.

A regular working of the gas producer is used, but not when using coal in small pieces or the so-called pit coal that is to say coal coming direct from the pit. F or treating-leaking coals shaft gas producers are referred to hereinafter. During thedescent of the charge of a shaft generator, the'fric- .ti o-n of the mass of coal and coke against the fixed wall of the shaft, brings about a loosening of the fuel, the descent of which along the wall of the shaft is delayed by friction, so thatthe mass in the center advances with a greater speed, while at the circumference itlags behind and, therefore,

' Q between the wall and the coal and coke there is produced a loosening. of the material,

owingto which large gaps are formed which offer free passage to the gases and smaller resistance to movement, so that the gases naturally follow the same when rising through the generator. Owing to this increase of the passage openings at the circumference of the shaft, large unbroken quantities of gas escape in a Very short time,

' the carbonic acid" of the said gases being reduced. only at the outside of v the gas currents at 'thepoint of contact with the incandescent masses, while in the interior of the widened gas flues itlremains unaltered. The

same incomplete reduction is also caused by the temperature of the generator walls which is outwardly reduced by the heat radiation This is proved 'by examining samples of gas taken on their escape from the fuel at the walls of the generator, when it will be found Specification of Letters Patent.

16, mos Serial no. 443,809.

can beobta-ined when expensive coal in pieces chiefly used, this method being exclusively.

that they contain always more carbonic acid than at the places which are at a grea ter dis tance from the shaft walls, while sometn'nes they contain even free'oxygen. In a shaft gas producer, using cakingcoal, the infirm ence of the walls is found to be still greater, The combustion products produced above the grate from the fuel already distilled, the

' liat zone Patented Dec. 28, 1909.

coke, rise chiefly a-longthe walls, distil the coals to a still greater extent at that point and convert them into coke, The coke thus produced does not offer any dilficulties to the the combustion gases; In that way, further distillation of the center or coreof the coals by direct transmission of heat from the combustion products ceases. The distillation can then be effected only by the heat which is transmitted to the mass of coals by condu rtivity. This takes place in a very slow mannor as proved by the results of distillation of coals in coke furnaces and retort furnaces of gas works i l In the drawing Figure at shows at the sectional surfaces 2' hi m n o'the cross-section of the mass of coal which is fritted together,

it is further distilled starting at i'L Z, while the limit on 12, Q moves still-farther upward. As the coke below is being burned, the whole mass descends. In regular working the zone 2' Z: l m n 0 retains its position in the generator. The coals in the core have a low temperature which. sometimes scarcely reaches 2000 O. v I

It will he seenv from the foregoing that in a gas producer for .caking coals, nearly all the products of distillation rise along the walls, so that the temperature at those points will rise very quickly. On looking into such a generator, therewill be seen along the wallia very narrow. red hot annular aonc, the 4 vof anthraciteaud coke generators for pro ducing power gas for explosion engines.

As shown in Fig. 5, the two-zones z is Z and /97, 17- 0 coincide here, thatis to say, the

\, combustion gases can also rise in the center and distil the coals of the gas producer Tnetemperature zone the core its well. ileft for th hen anthracite ant e iou's iniluence of calring-coals passes into the ator wall on the descending charge does not then have as much importance as in the case of caking coal;

It follows from the foregoing that it would be easy to distil the coals in question if it were possible to convert them into coke or poor coals before the fuel passes into the gas producer-fproper, or if the caking' were prevented as ar as possible. Both methods. have been tried with more or less success.

The present invention is based on the principle illustrated'in Figs. 13 of the accompanying drawing in accordance withwhich the'fuel is supplied to the gasifying chamber, that is to say, to the. gas producer proper, already distilled to such anextent that its caking together should be already.

impossible, this being the equivalent of supplying material similar to gas coke to the gasifying chamber. To that end, for distillin'g the coals, that is to say, for converting them into coke, the. upper part of the .generator is divided into vertical or inclined partial shafts which can be placed in the gasi'fying chambers (Figs. 1-3 and 7-9).

' supplied bythe generator gases leaving the gasifying chamber, by direct transmission of heat to the coals. As in' the case of cakalong the walls, and the distillation of the vcore of the coals is mostly effected by the heat supplied by conductivity to the mass of coals, that is to say slowly, the crosssections of'the partial shafts .are calculated in such manner that the thickness of the cake of coals in cross-section is only a moderate one (under normal conditions 20 30.

ems), in order that the core of the contents of the retort should be, if possible distilled -in a few hours.

A gas producer accordin to this invention is diagrammatically ill accompanying drawin in which Fig. 1 1s a longitu inal section through a rectangular generator, Fig. 2' a cross-sec'- tionthrough' the partial shafts on a reduced scale, Fig. 3 a cross-section through the partial shafts for a round generator, Figs. 4 and 5 are diagrams illustrating the proc ess and Figs. 69detail views.

In the construction shown in Fig. 1, .the gas roducer a is provided with nine partial sha ts b above the distilling or combustion chamber 0. The partial shafts b are connected to the charging chamber at by filling conduits c (Fig. 6) around'which slots f are left, for the escape of-thegases intothc conduit 9 provided outsidewith'branches h of which only one-is shown in the drawing. I As shown in section in Fig. 3, in the case of round or cylindrical apparatus, the partial shafts b can have any desired shape, f such for instance, as rectangular. In Fig. 7

distillationof coke, escape from the cham- .point. Even ifthere should still remain in The heat required for the distillation, is

ustrated in the the cross-section is of the same shape, in Fi g. 8 it is gradually widened at the bottom and in Fig. 9 it is provided with off-sets. The generator gasesforming the products of the her 0 with a temperature of about 7-..800 C. In becoming uniformly distributed along the single partialshafts b (1) and rising in the same along thew-sills, they give ofl their heat to the contents and to the walls of the partial shafts, and owing to their small cross-section.previously distil the coals to such an extent that the volatile ingredients of the same are mostly extracted at: this.

the fuel when it comes out fromthe partial shafts b, 540% of the volatile ingredients,

of which'the coals originally contained 30?! the said coke-like coal would be easy to distil in the eneratop an there would be no longer any fritting ogether. \Vhether the partial shafts could be made of the same cross-section from top to bot-tom, or whether they are to be made with a narrower orwider cross-section at-the bottom, depends chicfiy on. the properties of the coals to be distilled at the distillation temperature, for instance for coals which become inflated the cross sectio'n should be increased at the bottom, in order to insure a uniform descent, of the charge. l

. The fuel converted into coke, will leave the partial slfgfts in more or less large 'pieces, according to the conditions of temperature: and pressure. \Vhen passing from the partial shafts. 1) into the generator 0, the cakes of coke are loosened by the sudden in-a crease of cross-section and partly fall; to pieces. Below the partial shafts are pro: duced hollow chambers or spaces awn-" 11 are favorable to a uniform distributionlof gas throughout the artial shafts.

The, partial sha ts can be" made and mounted in the same way as gas retorts, or,

as shown in the drawings, built of-sh ap ed bricks or ordinary fire-proof bricks. The latter" have the advantage that, owing to their large mass, the walls form a large heat accumulator and consequently exercise a favorable influence onthe regular working 115. fof the gas producer. In certain conditions it may be advisable to perforate the intermediate walls of the partial shafts at single points, in order to produce an equalization of pressure for the gases, which may be useful in certain cases. y It'is already well known to suspend partial shafts in the upper part' of the generator, or to place them on the gasifying 'chamber of the generator, but none of the eXist-- ing constructions has the same object and gives the same result as the construction according to this invention. In well known gas producers, the fuels are notheated directly but indirectly by the retort walls from outside, consequently in View of the small heating surface and small heat conducting qualities of the thick fire-proof walls only a small quantity of heat, in the caseof iron walls not so little, is transmitted to the outer surface of the fuel in the retorts, but the whole inner core of the fuel is heated from v the outside inwardly only as permitted by its bad heat-conducting property, and therefore, the di tillation in the retorts is small in accordance with the small temperature there.

The arrangement of partial shafts in the upper part of the generator for solid fuels, as described in the present specification, has on the contrary, another object and a. new result, namely that the heating gases are conducted .into and through the partial shafts and brought in them into direct contact with the fuel, the latter oifering'them a correspondingly greater heating surface, owing to its division and owing to its being in pieces. To that end, the escaping gases are drawn off not at the lower end, but at the upper end of the partial shafts (Figs, l-(i), openings 7, that is to say, through the partial shafts b. The heating gases rising in the partial shafts, give off the greater portion of their heat to the fuel as useful heat and heat and distil the latter to a con siderable cxtent, carrying away its products of distillation and while rising in opposite direction to the descending fuel, continuing to give a steadily increasing quantity of useful heat and being cooled more and more so that their original temperature can be re- .duced to about 100 C., while in the case of indirect heating of the partial shafts, the

gases leave the generator with an average temperature of 650. v, The well known widening of the shafts i at the bottom (Figs. 8 and 9) which in certain cases may be advantageous in the apparatus according to this invention, faeili ,tates the admission and the distribution of the gases in the lower portions of the shafts,

. and causes the gases with the highest tem-' through and surrounding the fuel, passes into the retorts to become there more or less compressed and to bring about only Very inefiicient movements of the heat.

What I claim'is:--.

1. -In a shaft generator for producing gas from caking coal the combination of a lower combustion chamber 0, a plurality of superimposed partial shafts b, a charging cham ber cl superimposed upon the part1alshafts b and gas conduits f surroundin the upper ends of the partial shafts b, whlch conduits f are closed toward the charging chamber d and open to a gas collectin' branch h.

2. Ina shaft. generator or producing gas from cakingcoal the combination of a lower combustion chamber 0, a plurality of superimposed partial shafts b, a charging member d superimposed upon the partial shafts b and gas conduits f surrounding the upper ends of the partial shafts b, which conduits f are closed toward the charging chamber (Z and open to a gas collectin sections of said partial shafts 1) increasing in diameter from the to to the bottom.

In testimony whereo I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' ASMUS JABS.

Witnesses: .JACOB BRUNNEB, 'Koirr GRIMM.

branch 71, the 

